ion: "O King! I was but
a man like others, asleep upon My couch, when lo, the breezes of the
All-Glorious were wafted over Me, and taught Me the knowledge of all that
hath been. This thing is not from Me, but from One Who is Almighty and
All-Knowing. And he bade Me lift up My voice between earth and heaven, and
for this there befell Me what hath caused the tears of every man of
understanding to flow.... This is but a leaf which the winds of the will
of Thy Lord, the Almighty, the All-Praised, have stirred.... His
all-compelling summons hath reached Me, and caused Me to speak His praise
amidst all people. I was indeed as one dead when His behest was uttered.
The hand of the will of Thy Lord, the Compassionate, the Merciful,
transformed Me." "By My Life!" He asserts in another Tablet, "Not of Mine
own volition have I revealed Myself, but God, of His own choosing, hath
manifested Me." And again: "Whenever I chose to hold My peace and be
still, lo, the Voice of the Holy Spirit, standing on My right hand,
aroused Me, and the Most Great Spirit appeared before My face, and Gabriel
overshadowed Me, and the Spirit of Glory stirred within My bosom, bidding
Me arise and break My silence."

Such were the circumstances in which the Sun of Truth arose in the city of
Tihran--a city which, by reason of so rare a privilege conferred upon it,
had been glorified by the Bab as the "Holy Land," and surnamed by
Baha'u'llah "the Mother of the world," the "Day-spring of Light," the
"Dawning-Place of the signs of the Lord," the "Source of the joy of all
mankind." The first dawnings of that Light of peerless splendor had, as
already described, broken in the city of _Sh_iraz. The rim of that Orb had
now appeared above the horizon of the Siyah-_Ch_al of Tihran. Its rays
were to burst forth, a decade later, in Ba_gh_dad, piercing the clouds
which immediately after its rise in those somber surroundings obscured its
splendor. It was destined to mount to its zenith in the far-away city of
Adrianople, and ultimately to set in the immediate vicinity of the
fortress-town of Akka.

The process whereby the effulgence of so dazzling a Revelation was
unfolded to the eyes of men was of necessity slow and gradual. The first
intimation which its Bearer received did not synchronize with, nor was it
followed immediately by, a disclosure of its character to either His own
companions or His kindred. A period of no less than ten years had to
elapse ere its far-reac